Patient support apparatuses, such as hospital beds, stretchers, cots, tables, wheelchairs, and chairs, facilitate care of patients in a health care setting. Most patients require only temporary use of a patient support apparatus during the initial stages of their illness or injury. Health care providers generally promote early patient mobility to advance patient recovery.
To that end, ambulation devices, such as walkers, crutches, and canes, provide ambulatory support to patients who are unable to ambulate without assistance. Often, the ambulation device is positioned next to the patient support apparatus, after which the patient is effectively transferred from the latter to the former. For example, a patient transfer might comprise rising from a sitting position on the patient support apparatus to a standing position at least partially supported by the ambulation device.
Accidents associated with patient transfers are a common source of injuries. A caregiver is often unsure of the patient's weight bearing capacity and/or unable to physically support the patient in the unfortunate event of a sudden fall. In fact, caregivers likewise often suffer physical injuries during patient transfers. Further, the fear of being held responsible for a patient falling under one's care often makes the caregivers hesitant to promote early patient mobility, thereby delaying the ultimate recovery of the patient.
Promoting early patient mobility is an area of much interest and development. Conventional patient support apparatuses positionable in different configurations such as a bed configuration, a chair configuration, and several configurations therebetween, require complex systems to achieve the motion. In the chair configuration, a patient is more likely to successfully rise to a standing position during a patient transfer. However, upon attempting the patient transfer, further assistance may not be readily available, such as support with ambulation away from the patient support apparatus. Conventional walkers may be unavailable or retrieved from another location in the facility, adding time and effort to the patient transfer.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for a patient mobility system designed to overcome one or more of the aforementioned disadvantages.